Tropang Giga, Bolts eye semis spots
SISTER teams Talk ‘N Text (TNT) and Meralco look to close out their respective PBA Philippine Cup bestof-three quarterfinal series as action continues on Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Tropang Giga look to follow up on their 116-99 win in Game 1 with another win in their 3 p.m. collision versus Rain or Shine, and hopefully, put a swift end to their quarterfinal pairing and advance to the best-of-five semifinal series.
And just like the Tropang Giga, the Bolts go for the kill in their 6:15 p.m. matchup versus the NLEX Road Warriors after kicking off their short series with a 97-93 come-frombehind win last Friday.
TNT coach Chot Reyes knows that beating Rain or Shine requires sharpness on the defensive end. And in their series opening game, that’s what the team managed to accomplish en route to their 17-point win.
“This (Rain or Shine) is the top scoring team in the league. They lead the league in field goal percentage, and total field goal percentage so our entire focus during practice was to really defend, force them to take tough shots and hopefully miss,” Reyes said.
While Rain or Shine managed to connect on 15 triples, TNT’s overall defense was enough to limit the usually efficient gunners of coach Yeng Guiao to just 39 percent shooting in Game 1.
Reyes admitted that in order to finish off Rain or Shine, the team also needs to make its shots as well in order to limit the Elasto Painters’ transition offense.
On the other hand, Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said even with a four-point win in Game 1, the Bolts will have to play 48-minute basketball and be prepared defensively.
The Bolts crawled back from a 12-point deficit, relying on Allein Maliksi’s fourth-quarter shooting to defuse the Road Warriors and overcome Robert Bolick’s careerhigh 48-point explosion in their series-opening match.
“He (Bolick) really played well. You have to give it to Robert because he’s so good at picking angles and picking spots. But it really takes five guys to play defense,” said Trillo.